Volunteers who recycle, repair and reuse equipment and furniture in the Asset Recycling Centre (ARC) at Salisbury District Hospital have donated £10,000 to the Stars Appeal.

The money has gone towards a “SimMan”, a high-tech manikin used in clinical staff training. SimMan has a realistic anatomy and is used by staff to practice their skills in the education department or in their own clinical areas – improving their expertise and helping them deliver high standards of care in life-threatening situations.

Fifteen volunteers work in the hospital’s ARC and have a range of skills that benefit the hospital. Some are trained in upholstery, enabling them to refurbish furniture at a fraction of the cost of replacement. The team check, clean and refurbish walking aids and encourage patients and relatives to return them to one of the collection points in physiotherapy, the orthopaedic clinic, main entrance or directly to the ARC.

The centre also provides a ‘hub’ for the recycling of toner cartridges and milk bottle tops, with books and DVDs available for a donation. Any items which cannot be used in the hospital are made available in return for a donation to the hospital from staff, members of the public and local businesses.

Catherine Walsh, Asset Recycling Centre Team Leader, said: “Our volunteers support the hospital as a thank you for their own care or that of their families, either by saving the Trust money through the recycling of old and used items or generating money that they can then give to the Stars Appeal as a direct donation to support patient care. Recycling of items has enabled us to save over £100,000 alone this year.”

Claire Levi, Clinical Simulation Lead at Salisbury District Hospital said: “We are enormously grateful to the volunteers and the Stars Appeal for their donation. SimMan gives us a realistic method of training clinical staff in teams, allowing them to practice and learn together the key skills that they need to treat critically ill patients.”

Notes to editors:

1. The Stars Appeal is Salisbury District Hospital’s charity. It aims to raise £1million each year to help thousands of local people by enhancing services at the hospital. This includes babies and sick children to people at the end of their life, people with cancer and heart disease, people recovering from stroke, spinal injuries and older people and those with dementia. Stars Appeal projects help them get better quicker, go home sooner and make time in hospital easier for them and their families. The Stars Appeal does this by funding a range of projects, from additional state-of-the-art medical equipment to free patient Wi-Fi, ArtCare, accommodation for the parents of children and babies and for the loved ones of patients who are critically ill.